The dangers of exposing children to the weather elements, especially to ultraviolet rays emanating from the sun are well known. Many means currently exist for providing sun and/or weather protection for children in the form of canopy assemblies which are attachable to strollers or similar child carrier.
Among the prior art devices which attempted to provide sun and/or weather protection for children is Murphy (U.S. Pat. No. 1,039,993) which discloses a fairly elaborate canopy assembly for a baby carriage. Murphy's assembly has a bottom frame having adjustable side and cross bars which is positioned under the carriage. The assembly includes upwardly extending arm members which curve inwardly toward each other to overhang at the top of the carriage. These arm members are covered by mosquito netting or like material which is fitted to the supports yet is loose enough to allow for adjustment of the assembly.
Other prior art canopy assemblies utilized pivotally moveable frames that revolve about their side frame attachments. These include Wambach (U.S. Pat. No. 2,932,833) and Escobar (U.S. Pat. No. 3,241,160) who disclose stationary head rests with attached pivotal canopy assemblies, Bowden (U.S. Pat. No. 3,339,566) who discloses a canopy for attachment to automobile seats, Boggs (U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,161) who discloses an attachment for back-pack child carriers, and Gesslein (U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,372) who discloses a tiltable canopy which is pivotally mounted to a baby carriage.
Other prior art assemblies included pivotal resilient plastic canopies or sunscreens such as Anderson et al., (U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,915) who disclose a sun shade assembly which can be detachably secured to a child seat by means of pivot pins corresponding to cylindrical bosses attached to the seat. Brook (U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,748), Finn (U. S. Pat. No. 4,583,780), Beecher (U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,498), and James (U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,166) also teach assemblies which are pivotally attached at the sides of the particular child seat described therein.
Other fairly complicated protection devices include Pap et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,162) who teach a sun shade assembly for a child seat that comprises a cantilevered canopy formed of a suitable fabric or other material which is attached to a rigid metal frame which in turn is mounted on a tensioned ball joint member which allows for rotational adjustment of the frame. In this way, the canopy is adjustable vertically, horizontally and angularly with respect to the associated seat.
Voytko (U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,946) discloses a canopy assembly for attachment to a collapsible stroller in which the canopy frame is pivotally connected to the stroller handle. In use, the canopy is of limited value because it is not adjustable to multiple sun angles.
Myers (U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,779) teaches a canopy assembly for a child's car seat that is mounted to the car's interior. The assembly has a flexible sheet-like fabric cover which is generally horizontal when in use. A pocket formed in the rear of the assembly fits over the back of the car seat and the opposite end of the assembly is stretchably anchored to the car dash board. Hemispherical side panels extending along opposite sides of the fabric cover may be lowered to provide protection from side exposure or are raised out of the way. Nevertheless, this assembly is made for use within an automobile only.
Davis et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,906) also teaches a sun shade assembly for limited use with a child car seat. The assembly of Davis comprises a generally rectangular fabric shade supported by a generally U-shaped support bar. The bar is formed of a stiff but flexible, shape-restorable material, such as polyvinyl chloride, so that when placing the assembly over the child seat, its arms are flexed outwardly and the shape restorative force of the material causes the bar to draw back to contact or squeeze against the sides of the child seat. This squeezing force coacts with that of an elastic cord which is sewn along the back edge of the shade to pull the back edge inwardly against the back of the child seat, providing tension in the fabric to hold the front edge of the support bar in a generally horizontal position.
Purnell-Ayers (U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,433) and Franc (U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,679) both teach sunshade assemblies for child car seats that are formed of rubber or a like flexible material and use no rigid frames. The practical uses of these shades are limited to relatively non-mobile child carriers or those disposed within covered vehicles.
Smith (U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,231) discloses a sunshade assembly for a child carrier or car seat which includes a top cloth portion which extends from the carrier handle to the head of the carrier and a mesh portion on either side of the top cloth portion extending from the carrier handle to the carrier head. This assembly has no rigid frame and is only adaptable to child carriers having carrier handles strategically located to span the width of the child carrier. As such it is not usable on bicycle or like mounted child carriers.
Notwithstanding these prior achievements, in practice none of the prior art assemblies accomplished all of the ultimate desiderata for such an assembly because they taught either complex, heavy frame designs or flimsy, insubstantial assemblies not suitable for use with bicycle or like mounted child carriers. Further, none of them disclose a simple and inexpensive all-weather protection assembly which is also lightweight, durable (secure even in high wind), adjustable and relatively safe for child contact (no inflexible body contact or pinching due to convergence of moving frame members), and can be quickly and simply detachably attached to child carriers for use with uncovered vehicles such as bicycles and the like. It is to more effectively overcome these problems and to attain the totality of the aforestated desiderata that the present invention is directed.